A transport ship is en route to Earth, transferring Federal Forces soldiers from the space colonies to Earth. Among the ship's passengers are young officer Shiro Amada, and fresh-faced recruit Michel Ninorich. Their attention drawn by a nearby signal flare, the passengers spot a Federation mobile suit engaged in a running battle with a Zeon prototype. The foolhardy Shiro enters the fray in a Ball, a crude space pod intended for manual labor, enabling the Federation pilot to escape. Shiro's Ball and the Zeon prototype are both destroyed in the skirmish, and both combatants are forced to seek refuge inside a wrecked battleship. Putting aside their differences, Shiro and the Zeon test pilot, a young woman named Aina Sahalin, team up to create a distress signal and are each rescued by friendly forces.